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Bird of the year


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While posting about bird of the year elsewhere, it struck me that more folks may be interested.

In her paean to birding, Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds, Lyanda Lynn Haupt writes:

There is a game birders play on New Year’s Day called “Bird of the Year.” The very first bird you see on the first day of the new year is your theme bird for the next 365 days. It might seem a curious custom, but people who watch birds regularly are always contriving ways to keep themselves interested. This is one of those ways. You are given the possibility of creating something extraordinary — a Year of the Osprey, Year of the Pileated Woodpecker, Year of the Trumpeter Swan. This game is an inspiration to place yourself in natural circumstances that will yield a heavenly bird, blessing your year, your perspective, your imagination, your spirit. New year, new bird.

After her breathless anticipation, Haupt is confronted with… an Eastern Starling, or “sky-rat.”

The Year of the Eastern Starling. Inauspicious, yes, but not without its charms, according to Haupt.

As I have on the past eighteen or so New Year’s Eves, tomorrow night I will ensure that all of the feeders are topped off and that corn and nuts are scattered for the squirrels. (There are, of course, no squirrel-proof feeders, but I have learned that feed scattered away from the feeders will (mostly) keep those furry nuisances away from the birds and the more expensive seed.) And on Friday morning, the first bird I espy will be my theme bird for 2021.

Why don’t you join me? Post your bird of the year here on Friday.

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44 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Well I guess I’m having the year of the cockatoo.  Does he count?  He’s a pet who lives in the house.

Do you watch the birds that visit your yards or the nearby parks or other outdoor spaces? Your bird of the year would be the first non-pet bird you see tomorrow.

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I quit after 3 years of the bird-of-the-year being the notorious L.B.B. (little brown bird). Usually a sparrow, maybe a finch in winter colors. I need some exciting! flashy! bird to come, but nobody visits the Midwest in the winter except the Juncos.

I would LOVE to see a pileated woodpecker here. I've seen them in my state, but never in my county. Perhaps I can get one of my dc to blindfold me and lead me to the woody edge of a field first thing in the morning so I can see something unusual! 😄

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A crow. The first bird I saw this morning was a crow. It could have been because it was just barely getting light and he/she was the biggest thing near the feeders, but . . it was the first bird I saw.

Is there supposed to be a significance?

I'm actually very happy about it. I know lots of people don't like crows, but I do. I think they're like the dogs of the bird world. I put out peanut butter bread for them. Which could have a lot to do with why a crow was the first bird I saw. Wants its breakfast it does. 😉  

ETA: And the second was what I believe to be an adult male ruby crowned kinglet. What an odd difference in the first two birds! The kinglet first showed up here last year in the late fall, and then disappeared toward late winter/early spring. I guess he likes wintering with us. I've only ever seen one at a time, so I assume it's a solitary bird. Our patio is right outside our dining room window, and he likes to perch on the back of our bench and chirp in the window to us. I heard him and went to look so he'd be the second bird I saw. It's odd because he normally doesn't show up until at least mid-morning.

And now I'm really wondering about the significance, if any, of these two bird sightings.

Edited by Pawz4me
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22 hours ago, SusanC said:

I quit after 3 years of the bird-of-the-year being the notorious L.B.B. (little brown bird). Usually a sparrow, maybe a finch in winter colors. I need some exciting! flashy! bird to come, but nobody visits the Midwest in the winter except the Juncos.

I would LOVE to see a pileated woodpecker here. I've seen them in my state, but never in my county. Perhaps I can get one of my dc to blindfold me and lead me to the woody edge of a field first thing in the morning so I can see something unusual! 😄

I'm back to moderate my bah humbug attitude of yesterday. Mine is a cardinal this year, and while not rate in these parts at least he is colorful! Now, why was he on the suet...

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59 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

A crow

I love our crows, but they aren't reliable visitors to the feeder. They come regularly, but not predictably; maybe I should offer them some peanut butter instead of just peanuts.

My first bird this morning was a white throated sparrow. Blah. We've had big flocks of grackles and red-winged blackbirds emptying the feeder every day lately, so there was nothing interesting there to entice birds first thing this morning. 

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8 minutes ago, Innisfree said:

I love our crows, but they aren't reliable visitors to the feeder. They come regularly, but not predictably; maybe I should offer them some peanut butter instead of just peanuts.

 

We've always had lots of crows around, but it was suet cakes that first seemed to really attract them to our back yard. 

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Tufted titmouse.

We love those little birds. They are so tiny but so brave. They come to the back porch and sneak cat food from the cat dishes. I also (before we had the cat that started sleeping on the kitchen windowsill) used to put birdseed on the window sill and I'd have a whole flock of tufted titmouse (titmice?) eating right on the other side of the glass from where I was washing dishes. 

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On 12/31/2020 at 9:34 AM, SusanC said:

I quit after 3 years of the bird-of-the-year being the notorious L.B.B. (little brown bird). Usually a sparrow, maybe a finch in winter colors. I need some exciting! flashy! bird to come, but nobody visits the Midwest in the winter except the Juncos.

Just change your date! Maybe first day of spring? Or summer, I don't know when it stops being cold in the midwest. The spirit of the game is the same. 

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Chickadee for me!  My new rule was that I have to see the bird on my feeder, as opposed to the crow I saw while driving to the gym.  

I put seed out yesterday and I have about half a dozen chickadees around.  I'm also seeing tufted titmice, nuthatches, juncos, cardinals, finches, LBBs (sparrows), and red bellied woodpeckers this morning.  I love watching them ❤️

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The chances were very high it would be a house finch, but happily it was a downy woodpecker, trying to get around the icicles on the suet feeder. 

I could take this as confirmation that even more perseverance will be required in the coming year. But I think I'll stick with thinking it was a good move on my part to put the suet feeders up earlier in fall instead of waiting for frigid weather like I usually do. :biggrin:

 

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Thank you @-M- for this "new year bird challenge"!

I am going to cheat and make a bird that attracted my attention about 2 months ago also my 2021 bird, because since "discovering" this bird, I am suddenly finding it everywhere. And whenever I hear it, I stop and enter into the joy of sharing the moment with this little fellow -- a welcome relief to the stresses of the pandemic.

The phainopepla looks like an all-black cardinal, with a stripe of light gray on the tips of the under wing, that you can only see when it flies. Apparently it has a bright red eye, but I've never been close enough (or used binoculars) to see that. The phainopepla has a distinctive single "trill" for a song, which is what first attracted my attention.

I first saw this perky little fellow when I was working in my back yard. He likes to sit on a top branch of my neighbor's tree, right next to our wall, and his glossy black stands out against the blue sky. He sits for awhile and chirps his distinctive call. I love watching him. (And, it is a male -- they are glossy black, while the females are all gray.)

Here is a video -- turn up your volume to hear his song.

 

The first bird I actually saw and identified on this first morning of 2021 was the house finch (carpodacus Mexicanus), sitting on top of the telephone pole just on the other side of our backyard wall, warbling away so cheerfully. We have finches of several varieties around here, and they all love eating the seeds from the wildflowers that I plant each year -- they are small enough and light enough to "sit sideways" on a flower stalk and as it sways up and down with their weight they eat the seeds out of the flower head. It always makes me laugh - they are like circus acrobats holding balance on those wildly swaying flower stalks and almost turning upside down to get to the seed head. 😄 

 

 

phainopepla.jpg

Edited by Lori D.
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1 hour ago, TravelingChris said:

Tie between female house sparrow and a carolina chickadee with a American goldfinch alighting almost immediately after on my window sill

3 hours ago, Innisfree said:

...My first bird this morning was a white throated sparrow...

1 hour ago, jen3kids said:

Chickadee for me!  ❤️

41 minutes ago, Amethyst said:

The Year of the Chickadee here! 


According to this website, sparrows symbolize "intellect, ancestral knowledge", while chickadees mean "clarity, purity of soul". Nothing on the goldfinch, alas.

Edited by Lori D.
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2 hours ago, fairfarmhand said:

Tufted titmouse.

We love those little birds. They are so tiny but so brave. They come to the back porch and sneak cat food from the cat dishes. I also (before we had the cat that started sleeping on the kitchen windowsill) used to put birdseed on the window sill and I'd have a whole flock of tufted titmouse (titmice?) eating right on the other side of the glass from where I was washing dishes. 

Thanks for sharing that lovely image! How fun! 😄

We once encountered the bridled titmouse on a camping trip when DSs were little. The boys put bits of dry cereal in their hands and about half a dozen of those cheeky little birds flew down, landed on their fingers, and ate right out of their palms!

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5 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

A crow. The first bird I saw this morning was a crow... Is there supposed to be a significance?

According to this website, crows mean "sacred law, clear messages", while this website says crows symbolize "transformation, change, adaptation". Crows signify wisdom in some Native American myths and legends.

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2 hours ago, alpacawalker said:

I am so happy to report that it was an eastern bluebird.

According to this website, bluebirds mean "arrival of spring, hard work."

 

1 hour ago, Pippen said:

...it was a downy woodpecker, trying to get around the icicles on the suet feeder...

According to this website, woodpeckers symbolize "prophecy, heralds rain and storm". (I vote that that this own is showing that the year of 2021 will get around the icicles of 2020 to get to a new year of health, peace, and provision for needs. 😉 )

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2 minutes ago, Thatboyofmine said:

First two birds... buzzards.  🤦🏻‍♀️   But I make my own rules and I'm not starting 2021 like that.  No other birds were seen, so I'll have to look throughout the day.   🦉🦅🦆

In case you change your mind, the buzzard has powerful positive associations, according to this website:

"...vulture symbolism is linked to death, rebirth, equalizing, perception, trust, seriousness, resourcefulness, intelligence, cleanliness, and protection... Even if this bird is associated with death and other sinister ideas, the turkey vultures symbolism is about cleansing, adaptability, patience, loyalty, innovation, community, protection, death and rebirth, renewal, tolerance, protection. In many cultures, the vulture symbolizes a guardian or messenger between life and death, the physical world, and the spirit world. They have magical powers and are even seen as Gods. It is a contradictory symbol of darkness, mystery, divine power, and great wisdom at the same time."

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5 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

I'm actually very happy about it. I know lots of people don't like crows, but I do. I think they're like the dogs of the bird world. I put out peanut butter bread for them. Which could have a lot to do with why a crow was the first bird I saw. Wants its breakfast it does. 😉 

I adore crows and love that you give them peanut butter bread! ❤️

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4 minutes ago, MercyA said:

The American goldfinch is also known as a "wild canary," and canaries do have an entry! 

I also saw elsewhere that goldfinches can symbolize prosperity, but that they also are associated in Christianity with Christ -- in some art, Christ holds a goldfinch, which represents resurrection.

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2 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

I also saw elsewhere that goldfinches can symbolize prosperity, but that they also are associated in Christianity with Christ -- in some art, Christ holds a goldfinch, which represents resurrection.

How wonderful! I love it!

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Y'all are saying things not just like "hummingbird" but the *type* of hummingbird. Did I miss a class as a child? Did you get a handout while I was sick? Did your parents actually take you outside and point and say, "This, my child, is a Cornelius Fudgebird." ? Do you go out and practice weekly? I feel very inadequate on my birding skills, lol. 

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22 minutes ago, Moonhawk said:

Did your parents actually take you outside and point and say, "This, my child, is a Cornelius Fudgebird." ?

😄

Kinda?

My mom was, albeit briefly, a biology teacher. She always remained a natural teacher, and having grown up with her own parents interested in and knowing about the local flora and fauna, she passed it all in to my brother and me. There were never formal lessons, but creatures were always identified by name, and if we didn't know what something was, we looked it up in the field guides, because we were all curious.

Project FeederWatch has a good poster that helps with the common little brown (and other) birds.

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